With our first calender year complete, we thought it would be fun to (catch our breath) and take a look back at our 2023 shop events. This of course doesn’t include our Festival Of Stories, which was 21 events in its own right!
When I opened the shop, I was really keen for it not just to be a retail space. It needed to be a welcoming space and a place for ideas to be shared and generated. Being completely new to the industry meant that that I didn’t have an address book full of contacts, so I looked into the (mostly) local community to see what might be of interest.
It was great to have local lad Douglas Jackson as our first guest. Though he has long since left Jedburgh, his talk of growing up here and how it fueled his passion for history was insightful. Local writers and poets Mary Craig and James P Spence continued these themes, of rich history and inspiration being right here on our doorsteps.
I really enjoy interviewing our authors, and the conversations with Kerri Andrews and J.O.Morgan were deeply interesting looks at where creativity comes from, and how the great stuff is often outside the mainstream, or ignored by it.
A highlight, of course, was a visit from the patron saint of bookshops Robin Ince, who wowed our audience with tales of writers, books and a mile high pile of recommendations.
We also managed to squeeze in some kids reading sessions and even a pop-up cinema screening!
Almost all of these events were free to attend. We believe accessibility to culture like this is important and that being in an informal space with creative folks only creates more creativity, which is what we are all about. Thank you so much to all our guests who gave their time and shared their wisdom!